Not long ago, the concepts of individuality and self-expression were largely unfamiliar to the Chinese people. Over the past thirty years that’s changed, largely thanks to the introduction of international culture, which catapulted the country’s own breakneck artistic evolution. There is still a lot of ground to cover though, and China’s socio-political environment is fertile soil for punk rock – [...]

The best venues are often hard to find, which goes triple for Dos Kolegas – a dive bar so exceptionally clandestine, one might think they want to keep their fresh-grilled snacks, garden pool tables, and wide, well-priced selection of booze all to themselves. But seclusion has its benefits at this hoppin’ joint: without neighbors to disturb, bands on the eclectic roster [...]

Tea culture is ingrained in China’s history and and has a bright future, too – especially if you ask Min Lin , the proprietress of a teahouse hidden in an unassuming Shanghai apartment complex. It’s no exaggeration to say that entering the apartment feels like taking a step out of time. From the gentle murmur of an indoor waterfall and the soft [...]

One of the most thrilling aspects of traveling is getting to try new food. While the more adventurous of us might prefer the point-and-grunt method, we thought an instructional video might be of use for those yearning for the authentic Chinese breakfast experience – without the risk. Chinese breakfast cuisine varies by region, but the menu items tend to be [...]

We hope you enjoyed last week’s interview with People’s Architecture Office, and while we’re talking building, we invite you to explore our version of a photo-scrapbook. This is a collection of behind-the-scenes architecture snapshots from our summer in China. It includes everything form the historic splendour of the Forbidden City and the glitz of neon-covered nightclubs, to the crumbling rooftops [...]

The Design Hop initiative was launched as part of Beijing Design Week in an effort to engage designers in the complex issue of rejuvenating and preserving the deteriorating historic neighborhoods in Beijing. The Dashilar hutong, or courtyard neighborhood, is a once-thriving area that, like so many Beijing hutongs, had fallen into disrepair. Dashilar now serves as the main Design Hop [...]

How does twenty-first-century indie music sound when it’s only been around for twenty years? Where do alt-leaning kids hang out in a place that didn’t have access to international cultural context until the ’80s? We went to Beijing’s leading independent music label’s fifth anniversary concert to find out. The Chinese music scene exploded in the early 2000s. Maybe Mars, a record [...]

Deep down, we knew this day would come: as of a few months ago, Wonderland, Beijing’s ghostly, abandoned amusement park project is gone. Old suspicions of the park’s likely demise don’t make us feel any less wistful, though – nor any less lucky to have been able to admire its steel skeletons amidst the corn stalks, to peek inside its [...]

Iconic subcultural imagery and gender-flexible patterns (and models) have become the trademarks of Zhang Chi – a young Beijing designer not afraid to take fashion tips from the dark side. Like Vega Wang, whom we featured a couple of months ago, Chi studied abroad, returning to Beijing in late 2000s to put his education to good use in the fertile [...]

Ren Hang doesn’t have a lot to say about himself. In the fine art environment, where emphasizing one’s own importance (or having representation to do so, while you maintain the air of expensive mystery) is the norm, this resistance to pretense could be considered a form of madness. But this hasn’t stopped the twenty-seven-year-old photographer, who’s gained international recognition by [...]